The Tabernacle was beautiful because the people wanted the Tabernacle to be beautiful. Our schul is beautiful because our congregants want our schul to be beautiful. The Upper East Side of New York is beautiful because those who live there want the Upper East Side to be beautiful.

Beauty that people create does not just happen. It is the result of the dreams and the efforts of people. Beauty has design, inspiration, and long hours of work. It happens as people want it to happen. The Tabernacle and then the Temple were beautiful because people wanted it so.

Our houses, our neighborhoods, the cities and countries we live in are created in the image that we, people, design. Modern ghettos do not just happen. They too are the result of apartment owners who only want the profits that rent brings them. They are the result of tenants who do not take pride in their surroundings. They are the result of the culture that is the very warp and woof of neighborhoods.

The beauty and the ugliness that surround us are our own creation. Where beauty exists, we know where our priorities exist. Where ugliness exists, we know where all that we abhor exists. Did you ever wonder why a hasid searches so diligently for the prettiest etrog or pair of Tefillin? Did you ever wonder why some people take such care in preparation for the Shabbat? Did you ever wonder why some people look for beauty in a car, while others do not care at all what their cars look like?

You can always tell what a person stands for by what he makes the cleanest. And you can usually identify that person in crisis by the way he cares for himself and for the world around him.

The lessons that we learn in these chapters about the Tabernacle display the deep love and priority that the religious life had for our people after they received the Torah. All of the wonderful detail described in the chapters that we read during these weeks only point to a people who found and made beautiful that which was most important to them.

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